WHETHER you listen to Taylor Swift or not, you’ve probably heard that she’s re-recording and re-releasing all of her original records.
The reason she’s doing this has a lot to do with a long-standing feud between Taylor, a man named Scott Borchetta, and a man named Scooter Braun.
How did the beef between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun start?
The complications between Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift began, in part, due to a man named Scott Borchetta.
Borchetta owned Big Machine Records, with whom Taylor first signed as an artist when she was 15.
Taylor was Big Machine Records‘ first client, and many others followed in her footsteps.
Taylor decided after her sixth studio album, Reputation, that she would be signing her future music with Republic Records and Universal Music Group.
They’d made her a deal that she would own all her future masters, which Borchetta hadn’t done.
Taylor left Big Machine Records on seemingly good terms with Borchetta until mid-2019.
In June 2019, a man named Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records for $300million, which included the masters of the first six of Taylor’s albums.
Taylor alleged that Scooter Braun had bullied and manipulated her for years, including through his client Kanye West’s release of the song Famous.
What caused the beef to escalate between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun?
As with all beef, there are multiple moving parts to this story.
In August 2019, Taylor announced on Good Morning America that she’d be re=recording her albums, which her contract would allow her to do beginning in 2020.
In November 2019, Taylor Swift was to be named Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards, where she wanted to play a medley of her music, including many songs from her first six albums.
She claimed that Scott and Scooter wouldn’t approve it and also that they wouldn’t approve her use of recordings for her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
Scott and Scooter ultimately said they’d allow Taylor to play some of her songs if she would agree not to re-record the albums and if she’d stop talking about them to the press.
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Taylor asked her fans for help, and through the power of social media, the duo finally agreed to let her sing her songs live, as long as Scooter was still in charge of her masters (meaning where and when any of her recordings or visuals were used).
Taylor showed up to perform wearing a large white shirt with the names of her first six albums written on it.
How did Taylor Swift react to Scooter buying her masters?
Shortly after the acquisition, Taylor wrote a letter to her fans on Tumblr.
She said that she had been trying to get Borchetta to buy back her music for years and that instead, he’d only offered her deals which included buying one of her existing records back with a future release.
She said: “I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.”
“I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past.”
“Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”
Who owns Taylor Swift’s albums now?
Taylor announced in August 2019 that she had plans to re-record her old music, of which she would then have full ownership.
As of December 2022, Taylor has re-released two old albums, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version).
Lawyer and YouTube sensation Leeja Miller broke down how Taylor can re-record the music if it’s technically owned by someone else.
Leeja said: “So because she’s the songwriter, she still owns copyright in that music, she just doesn’t own the copyright to that particular version of the song.”
“So she can now go on and re-record these songs on her own, and own the masters on them, and then she’ll have ownership of the new recordings.”